Refrigerator-car.



No. 656,462. Patented Aug. 2|, I900.

T. B.- KIRBY.

REFRIGERATOR CAR.

(Application filed Jay. 29, 1900.)

(No Model.) .4--$he'ets-Sheef l.

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Patented Aug. 2|, I900.

1'. s. KIRBY REFRIGERATOR CAR.

(Application filed Jan. 29, 1900.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

. (No Model.)

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m: ycnms FETIZRS co. Puormurnomwsmuuron, n. :4

No. 656,462. Patented Aug. 2l,.l900. T. B. KIRBY.

REFRIGERATOR CAR.

' (Application filed. Jan. 29, 1900.; (No Model.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 3,

YNE mama's PETERS co. Pum'oumo" wnsnmm'on. n c.

6 No. 656,462. Patented Au 2|, I900.

T. B. KIRBY. 6

REFRIGERATOR CAR.

(A nmm filed Jan. 29, 19001; (No llodel.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

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1NITED' S PATENT OFFICE.

'rIIoMAs B. KIRBY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ARMOUR t 00., orSAME PLACE.

REFRIGERATOR-OAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Fatent No. 656,462, dated August21, 1900. Application filed January 29, 1900- Serial No. 3,160. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may-concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS .B. KIRBY, of Chicago, inthe county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Refrigerator-Oargof which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to improvements in:

the car when not in use without occupying more than an insignificantamount of room, the intention being 'thata set of suchracks shall becomea part ofthe regular equipment of the car totake the place of thetemporary racks which are now commonly employed and which arecustomarily thrown away or discarded at the end of a single trip.

To this end the invention consists in the matters hereinafter described,and particularlypointed out in the appended claims, and

will be readily understood from the following description, referencebeing had to' the 'accompanying drawings, in which. I

Figure 1 is a plan view of the floor of a car equipped with myinvention, the side walls of the car being shown in horizontal section.Figs. 2 and 3 are transverse vertical sectional views taken throughfragmentary portions of a car, showing the racks collapsed and securedto the said side walls. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of theend portion of a car equipped with my invention, and Fig. 5 is atransverse vertical sectional view taken on line 5 5 of Fig. t andlooking in the direction of the arrows.

In its broader sense the present invention is not limited toanyparticular type of freightcar, and the general features of theinvention may be used either in connection with a refrigerator-car orany ordinary freightcar, although certain of the specific features arecapable of embodiment only in combination with a refrigerator-car of thetype herein illustrated.

Referring to said drawings, 1 designates as a whole the body of a closedcar comprising front and side walls 2 3, end walls 4: 5, respectively,and the usual fioor 6.

7 and 8 respectivelydesignate the two side doors arranged opposite eachother, as usual. 1 "9 lOidesignate as a whole the several individualohesof a set-of folding or collapsible {floor-racks of slatted orskeletonconstruction designed to support the commodity undergoing shipment freefrom the floor of the car, so asto permit a circulation of airthereunder. Inasmuch as the construction of each of the severalindividual racks of the set referred to is substantially identical, adescription of one will be'applicable to all.

' Referring then to Figs. 2 and 3, each rack is shown as made of aplurality of sections, twoin'the'present instance, as 11 12. 13 13and-.14 14 designate the two longitudinal supports or joist members ofeach pair of racksections, the supports of each section being arrangedparallel to each other and at a suitable distance apart to properlysupport a seflrie's of slats15, secured transversely thereon at slightintervals apart. The'pairs of longitudinalsupports of the tworack-sections are located at diiferentdistances apart,so that when therack=sections are folded together they may overlap eachother or nesttogether closely, as indicated cl'earlyin Figs. 2 and 3, the two memberswhich extend along the proximate sides of the two sections beingdesirably as near the edges of said sections as may be and still permittheir folding together. In order to form a hinge or flexible connectionwith the said sections which while serving'to hold the sections securelytogether nevertheless alfords suflicient looseness of joint to permitthe rack-sections to be folded together with their longitudinal supportsfacing inwardly, I preferably employ a plurality of elongated links 16,each arranged'to encircle the two proximate supports, said links beingmade of sufficient length toafford the requisite movement of theconnected parts with relation to each other, and the portions of thesupports encircled thereby being desirably rounded, as indicated at 17,to facilitate the hinge action. The racks constructed as described arein use permanently hinged in place in the car in such manner that theymay be folded up and secured in upright position ting sections and sidewalls for holding them in position when resting upon the floor. Suchhinge connections, as shown herein, comprise a plurality of links 18,secured by means of staples or screw-eyes 19-20, which are res-pectivelyinserted in recesses formed in the under sides of the longitudinalsupports, which are arranged next to the side walls and into the floorof the car at such distance inwardly from the side walls as to permitthe proper hinge action, enabling the sections to be tilted up fiatagainst the interior of the car-wall. By reason of the hinge connectionbetween the two sections the inner section is at the same time that theouter section is raised caused to fold into avertical position,as shownin Fig. 2,with its longitudinal members nested in with thecorresponding, members of the outer section and is conveniently held inthis position and in suchmanner as to hold both sections securely bymeans of a hook and staple 22, located in a recess 23 in the side wallabove the upper edges of the rack-sections, which hook engages an eye24:, desirably arranged within a recess 25 in the uppermost supportingmember of the pair of rack-sections.

In practice the two sections of each rack will be made to coverapproximately onehalf the width of the car-floor, so that the two doublesections, one at each side, will serve to completely cover thecar-floor. Obviously when folded up against the sides of the car theyoccupy but a trifling amount of space, andwhile thus held in a verticalposition they are not likely to meet with accident and at the same timeleave the interior of the car in good condition for shipping commoditiesnot requiring the use of the racks. The middle rack-sections 10, whichare located opposite the door-openings, are picked up bodily, foldedtogether in the same manner as are those previously described, and thenstored in vertical position against the sides of the car above andresting upon some of the attached sections, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Inorder to secure these sections in this latter position, hooks andstaples 26 are provided, constructed and arranged substantially likethose hereinbefore referred to.

In addition to the racks hereinbefore described adapted for use in carsgenerally I have provided certain auxiliary racks especially adapted fora car having the peculiarities of construction shown herein-that is, onehaving ice-receptacles arranged to extend across the end or ends of thecar in the upper part thereof and leaving a space or recess 27 belowthesaid receptacle. This space is used or not in the shipmentof perishablecommodities, depending upon the character of the same, said'space beingavailable when shipping small fruits and the like, which may be readilypacked within this recess, but beingunavailable when shipping bulky com--modities. For the purpose of flooring this space I provide a rack 28,desirably comprising a series of short supporting members 29, arrangedto extend longitudinal of the car, and supporting-slats 30, which mayconveniently extend across the full width of the car. This rack ishinged by means of a flexible link connection, comprising eyepieces 31,se cured to the supports 28, link-bars 32, secured to parts of the tankor receptacle structure elevated slightly above the car-floor andlocated at the opposite ends of the rack, and links 33, connecting saideyes and link-bars, all as shown clearly in Fig. 4, the connection beingsuch that the rack may be tilted up into vertical position against theend wall of said recess 27 and secured in this position by means ofturn-buttons 3% or allowed to rest upon the fioor at one end and withits opposite or hinged end held elevated slightly to accommodate thestructural part-s of the tank. In order to provide means forpartitioning off said'recess, I provide another auxiliary rack 35, whichis constructed generally like the rack 28 and is hinged to the lowerprojecting angle 36 of the tank by means of eyes 37, se cured to one ofits margins and engaging eyebars 38, arranged at each end of the tankstructure and which are severallysecured at one end to bracket-pieces 39and extended at their opposite ends some distance beneath the tank intothe recess 27 and there secured to the bottom of the tank, as indicatedat 40. The purpose of this hinged connection is to enable the rack 35 tobe lifted up into approximately-vertical position and secured againstthe end wall of the tank conveniently by means of retaining-hooks 41when out of use or to be dropped down and carried bodily some distanceback into the recess 27, so as to partition off only the non-availablespace at the inner end of the recess, the position of the rack when inuse being indicated clearly in dotted lines in said Fig. 4.

Vhile I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of myinvention, yet it will be understood that the details thereof may bemodified to some extent without departing from the invention, andI donot therefore wish to be limited to the precise details of constructionshown, except as made the subject of specific claims. I claim as myinvention I 1. As a new article of manufacture, a supporting-rack forcars, comprising a plurality of hinged sections, each comprising aplurality of longitudinally-arranged supportingpieces and a plurality oftransversely-arranged slats secured thereon, flexible hinge connectionsconnecting said rack-sections, the longitudinal supporting members ofthe rack sections being arranged to nest to gether when therack-sectionsare foldedg l 2. As a new article ofmanufacture,asupporting-rack for cars, comprising a plurality.

of hinged sections,each section comprising a plurality oflongitudinally-arranged support ing-pieces and aseries oftransversely-an} ranged slats secured thereon and flexible hingeconnections connecting said rack-sections, comprising links looselyencircling the proximate longitudinal supports of each pairofyra'ck-sections, said longitudinal supports being suitably spacedapart to enablethem to nest together when the rack-sections are foldedwith the longitudinal supports facing rality of hingedsections,eachcomprising a plurality of longitudinally-arranged supporting-pieces anda plurality of transversely-an ranged slats secured thereon and flexiblehinge connections connecting said rack-sections, securing devicesflexibly connecting said rack to the body of the car adjacent to devicefor securing said rack in vertical position against said side wall, thehinge con-' nections between said rack-sections being arranged to permitthe longitudinally-supporting members of sections to nest together whenfolded with the latter facing inwardly.

4. The combination with a freight-car, of a supporting-rack therefor,comprising a plurality of hinged sections, each section comprising aplurality of longitudinally-arranged supporting pieces and a series oftransversely-arranged slats secured thereon, flexible hinge connectionsconnecting said racksections, comprising links loosely encircling theproximate longitudinalsupports of each pair of rack-sections, link-and-staple connections connecting one edge of said rack to the floor of thecar adjacent to the side wall thereof and hook-and-staple connectionsfor securing said rack in'folded position against said side wall, thehinge connections between said rack-sections being adapted to permitthearack-sections to nest together when folded up against the side wallof the car, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a refrigerator freight-car, having a receptaclelocated in one end thereof and arranged to overhang the floor so as toleave a' space thereunder, of a movable rack hinged to the overhangingportion of said receptacle and adapted to depend therefrom to partitionoff the space between the receptacle, said hinge connection consistingof a plurality of eyes secured to one edge of the rack-section andeye-bars secured to the overhanging port-ion of the receptacle parallelwith each other, one end of a each eye-bar being extended beneath thereceptacle, whereby the rack-section is adapted 'to be carried bodilyinto said space beneath the receptacle so as to partition ofi a partonlyof the space, and means for detachably securing said rack in folded-upposition against the side of the receptacle, substantially as described.a 6; The combination with a refrigeratoncar having anice-receptaclelocated in one end thereof, arranged in the upper portionof the car so as to overhang the floor and leave an open recessthereunder, vof a movable rack adapted to form an open flooring for thespace within said recess, comprising a plurality oflongitudinally-extending supports and a series of transversely-arrangedslats secured thereon and means for flexibly hinging said rack to thebody of the car, so as to permit it to be tilt-ed up into verticalposition against the endwall of said recess, comprising a a plurality ofeyepieces, secured to one edge of the rack, oorrespondinglink-bars,secured to the structure of-the car, adjacent to the end wall of therecess and parallel with each other, links connecting said eyepieceswith the link-bars and means for detachably securing said rack invertical positionagainst the end wall of the recess, substantially asshown and described.

tions of equal width hinged together to fold one upon the other withtheir end surfaces face to face along lines extending longitudinally ofthe car, the combined width of the two series of racks hinged to theopposite sides of the car being substantially equal to the width of thecar so as to practically cover the fioor thereof when unfolded, andmeans for securing said racks in folded-up position against the sidewalls of the car, substantially as described.

8. A sectional supporting rack for cars, having a section thereof hingedat the angle of the side wall and floor of the car and an extensiblesection loosely hinged to said wallsection and adapted to be extendedoutwardly in prolongation thereof toward the opposite side'of the car,said hingedconnections adapting the supporting sill members of the walland extension-sections to nest or interfold.

THOMAS E. KIRBY. Witnesses:

O. C. LINTHICUM, FREDERICK O. GooDwIN.

